Content is King… but only with an Effective Content Marketing Strategy

 Did you know Alaskan Red King Crab fishermen can earn $60,000 in 4 weeks?  

Alaskan Fisherman can earn $60,000 in one month

That’s right, they can earn an annual a salary in about one month.

Their salary reflects the risks they take - this is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.  

And they fish in extreme conditions... along the Bering Sea... in November.

But fishermen don't simply get on a boat one day and ship out to rough waters in the winter.

On the contrary, Alaskan fishermen plan systematically. When they’re out to sea for weeks, resupply presents an issue. To succeed, they follow a tested strategy supported by a systematic plan.

Similarly, your company can earn most of its annual revenues in 4 days… at your annual trade show. To succeed, you need a content marketing strategy and systematic plan.

As you know, B2B content marketing is growing quickly. Your competitors have jumped on the content bandwagon. But most B2B marketers believe their content marketing is ineffective.

Translation: More content does not mean better content. And content without direction and focus falls short of expected results.

But… with a content strategy, you can boost effectiveness by up to 600%!

How do you achieve that?

Develop a B2B Content Marketing Strategy

Trade shows result in more revenues than any other sales event. Many companies earn most of their sales during a week.

To maximize this opportunity, you’ll need professional, persuasive and potent marketing content. But content by itself won’t earn your business its annual revenues.

But… combine your content marketing strategy with trade shows and you have a winner.

With this strategy, you can catch two fish with one worm.  

Content is King with a Content Marketing Strategy

Here’s how you do that.

• Identify the Audience (prospects and clients)

• Identify the Purpose of your content

• Identify the content types to be published

• Align your audience, purpose, and content types

Let’s look at these four steps in more detail.

Identify the Audience

Anytime you write content, the first step is to single out your audience. Which clients are you targeting? Prospects, customers, both?

Know Your Audience

You’ve heard of personas, which represent the various client profiles you’re targeting.

In planning content for trade shows you have various audiences comprised of decision makers, such as CEO, COOs, CFOs, CIOs, CTOs, etc.

However, you also have an operations audience consisting of operations managers, supply chain managers, and warehouse managers. Finally, you have a technical audience of engineers, accountants, and technology specialists.

As you can see, we’ve identified three main categories for your audience, all of which consume information differently. They have different perspectives, interests, and levels and kinds of detail.

Decision makers want high-level information focused on the “Big Picture” and maybe some level of details concerning important aspects of a product or service. Technical personnel, however, want the details. They want to go into the weeds.

Next, you need to consider the purpose of your content. Specifically, what do you hope to accomplish with your marketing content?

Identify the Purpose of Your Content

When you identify the purpose of your content, you get at the specific goals and objectives you hope to achieve.

• Lead Generation: For trade shows, you obviously want marketing content that generates leads. With about 83% of trade show attendees having influence over the buying decision, you’re operating in a target-rich environment for lead generation.
• New Products and Services: Your purpose may be to feature a product or service that reflects the industry’s latest business practices, technologies, or products your company has to offer.
• Branding: Additionally, with so many decision makers and influencers at trade shows, you’ll want to showcase your company’s brand. All your content should reflect your business's core message.

At this point, we’ve identified three key audience categories and three different purposes for your marketing content. Working with this mix, let’s see how to identify different content types.

Identify the Content Types to be Published

Print Content 

We’re halfway there in developing a content marketing strategy based on trade shows. Now it’s time to consider the types of content you should publish. You have many choices: text documents, graphics, video, audio.

• Text documents: white papers, case studies, point papers, presentations
• Graphics: company photos, infographics
• Video: company overview by CEO, featuring of special/new products
• Audio: Podcasts of individual products and services being featured by COO, CIO, etc.

Align Your Audience, Purpose, and Content Types

Align Your Audience, Purpose, and Content 

You can address this in two ways. First, consider the audience you’re targeting (decision makers or technicians), and how they prefer to consume their content.

• Do your customers get their information on the web?
• Do they want high-level or detailed data and information?

Some of this is a judgment call, but if you’re talking to your customers, you’ll have a good idea of how they prefer to consume content.

Second, in addition to providing content based on your audience’s preferences, you should consider distribution. What should you provide online and what should you provide in hard copy. And, of course, some content should be distributed both digitally and in print.

Here are a few examples:

	Blog	Social Media	Video	Audio	White Papers	Brochures	Case Studies
Digital	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Print					X	X	X

This only represents a sampling, as you have more content types from which to choose like data sheets, spreadsheets, direct mail, press releases, web content and landing pages. In any case, you should take the time to consider your audience’s preferences and the type of data/information being conveyed.  

Assessing Your Trade Show Content Marketing Strategy

Now it’s time to review what you’ve done and assess it in terms of your overall content marketing strategy. To quickly recap, you’ve identified your audience, your purpose, your and content types, and you've aligned them.

When you've completed this process, whether you realize it or not, you’ve just built a solid foundation for your overall content marketing strategy.  

Why?

Some companies realize up to 80% of annual sales at trade shows. So, if you plan and prepare a content marketing strategy focused on your annual trade show, you’re also developing your overall content marketing strategy.

Conclusion

This blog post lays out a different approach to developing a content marketing strategy based on your annual trade show. It maximizes time and effort spent on what’s important. It represents a disciplined approach that easy to implement if you plan.

You’ll be surprised at the difference this approach makes compared to leads generated last year. Your ROI will improve as well as your sales and revenues.

Try it and let me know how it worked out for you.

Alex Milo, CSCP, CPL

B2B Copywriter

Phone: 256-886-4684
Email: amilo@b2bcopywriting-alexmilo.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandermilo

http://www.b2bcopywriting-alexmilo.com

P.S. Here's a link to a presentation on this using trade shows as a content marketing strategy: Perfect Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy with Trade Shows